"Is there anyone else in Tanach who is referred to as Bin Nun?" Wouldn't that have to be one of his siblings? There are other things in תנ"ך referred to as bin other things, such as the kikayon plant in Sefer Yona (4:10) and the evildoer punished by lashes in Jewish court in D'varim(25:2).
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WAFJun 19 '11 at 3:54

4 Answers
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Yehoshua is always referred to in Tanach as Bin Nun. In Nechemia 8:17 he is referred to as יֵשׁוּעַ בִּן-נוּן.

The only other case in Tanach where a person is called Bin is in Mishlei 30:1 דִּבְרֵי אָגוּר בִּן יָקֶה. However Rashi cites the Midrash that Shlomo is called Agur, meaning the one who gathered this information, "Bin" meaning not son here but that Solomon understood this wisdom, and Yakeh because he then "spit it out" for others.

The Chasam Sofer in Toras Moshe says that since the added Yud needed a Sheva underneath it the two dots were taken away from Ben and made it into Bin.

The Ramban Shemos 33:11 says that Yehoshua was known as Bin Nun to show him honor, as the word Bin Nun come from the word Navon - to show that there was no one greater than him in Chochmo and understanding.

According to your answer from the radak, why is it Uri Ben Chur - should it not be Uri Bin Chur? And what about Shaul Ben Kush, why is it not Shaul Bin Kush?
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Gershon GoldJun 19 '11 at 16:55

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@GershonGold, I've thought about this and I don't think I can give you a straight answer. It seems like something that would be relative to what people connect together when they speak. Yehoshua bin Nun is perhaps easier to say than Yehoshua ben Nun, maybe because of the back-to-back 'nun's, but not so for ben-Chur or ben-Kish. But then, one must explain for Agur bin Yakeh, etc. It seems like something without exact technical rules, but rather employed on a case-by-case basis.
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jakeJun 19 '11 at 17:08

Rashi cites the Midrash that Shlomo is called Agur, meaning the one who gathered this information, "Bin" meaning not son here but that Solomon understood this wisdom, and Yakeh because he then "spit it out" for others. - That would leave only Yehoshua with the name Bin.
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Gershon GoldJun 19 '11 at 17:20

@GershonGold, I believe standard p'shat there is that this was actually someone's name. The fact that Rashi is swayed by midrash is nothing new. IIRC, we do not have Radak's commentary on Mishlei, so not sure what he thinks; maybe he refers to it elsewhere.
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jakeJun 19 '11 at 17:56

I agree with you that standard Peshat is that it is a name. However based on Rashi the only one with a name Bin would be Yehoshua. And even if Agur bin Yakeh is the second person with the name Bin the Radak is hard to understand based on my first comment.
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Gershon GoldJun 19 '11 at 18:09

Speaking purely linguistically, Semitic languages originally had only 3 vowels: a, u, i which is still the case in standard Arabic. Again, speaking purely linguistically, Torah has many examples of grammar and words more ancient that most of its text. 'Bin' may be an example of such older pronunciation that remained in his family, or in the tribe of Ephraim. Or the specific phonetic environment preserved 'i' in 'binnun', 'binyake', 'binyamin'

Yojanan, welcome to Mi Yodeya! The language of discourse on this site is English. Can you please edit this answer to translate it into English? If you need help with some English words, I'm sure the community can help with that.
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Isaac MosesFeb 12 '14 at 22:06

Google Translate: "gentlemen To understand this we must initiate a review of the first lessons in Hebrew? of you who spent Habarot? (Syllables) that end a word in long or short vowel? or because there is Eufonia in Hebrew? serious grammatical answer this? יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בִּן - נוּן sound "Bin" "Ben" meaning Son in Hebrew is the Hebrew Eufonia because it is easier to say "i" after "a" that is the end of the name Yehoshua which use an "e" Tzere and they used an "i" because if you look good there are 3 nun in the text which would produce a spoken vowel Tzere a Sound inconspicuous .. "
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ShokhetJun 13 '14 at 1:04